Crohn’s Holistic Treatment

After nine years of doing private consultations for people with Crohn’s disease and answering literally thousands of questions on my Forum, I have come to see that there are seven key protocols that nearly everyone needs to implement in order to see their digestive healing progress rapidly.

By the time people find their way to my protocols, their bacterial flora is usually unbalanced throughout their gastrointestinal tract. If they haven’t already had repeated antibiotic use since childhood, then the medical exploratory and diagnostic tests alone have destroyed much of the good bacteria in their small and large intestine. When the good, protective bacteria are depleted, then pathogens like yeast (Candida), viruses, parasites, and bad bacteria flourish.

Note: If you have had a colonoscopy, or are considering one, please download my complimentary Colonoscopy Report – where I outline the risks and what you can do to protect yourself.

This profusion of pathogens, combined with (and causing) inflammation and damage to the mucosal lining, then results in Leaky Gut Syndrome; whereby undigested food particles and bad bacteria leach into the bloodstream and trigger allergic reactions and infection in other locales.

The protocols needed to heal Crohn’s disease therefore focus on providing bowel rest via a special Crohn’s disease diet, eradicating pathogens from the gut, rebalancing the bacterial flora, healing the damage done to the mucosal lining and intestinal wall, healing the emotional factors that lead to susceptibility in the gut in the first place (and ongoing), addressing any nutrient deficiencies, and balancing the endocrine system.

Crohn’s Diet – Bowel Rest

In extreme cases, the best and fastest way of alternative healing for Crohn’s is to go on an elemental diet (as outlined in my book, The IBD Remission Diet) in order to provide bowel rest and eliminate any trigger foods, whilst addressing the underlying conditions of infection and inflammation in the digestive system. This is also used frequently if the person is very malnourished or underweight, or if there is ongoing intestinal bleeding.

If the person doesn’t require anything as drastic as an elemental diet, then they just follow the Healing Diet (in Chapter 3 of Listen To Your Gut) for their symptom profile, whilst implementing the protocols below. If they do begin with an elemental diet, then they also begin simultaneously on the protocols below. If tolerated, the multi-pronged healing approach produces the quickest results.

The great news is that a number of my clients have now tested using raw milk (unpasteurized milk from pasture-fed cows) instead of Absorb Plus for their elemental diet and they have tolerated it well and shown great improvement. Others have used a combination of Absorb Plus and raw cow or goat’s milk. If this interests you, I have provided a lot of information on this innovative healing therapy at JPT Wellness Circle (I have content on raw milk therapy in the infoletter, videos, podcasts and teleseminars sections). If possible, I would encourage you to use raw milk instead of Absorb Plus, because not only is it cheaper, it is a whole, unprocessed food and therefore healthier.

Eradicating Pathogens

To get rid of pathogenic bacteria, viruses, yeast (Candida albicans), mycobacteria and parasites, utilize Jini’s Wild Oregano Oil Protocol. If you have a mycobacterial infection, you will need to cycle on and off the Protocol for 2 –3 years to eradicate all the mycobacteria.

People generally start with Jini’s Wild Oregano Oil Protocol and then upon completion of the first cycle, move onto high dose, therapeutic probiotic supplementation. Of course, they have already begun probiotic supplementation with Jini’s Wild Oregano Oil Protocol, so their system doesn’t usually have much difficulty transitioning to high dose probiotics.

Probiotic Supplementation for Crohn’s Disease

Probiotics for Crohn’s disease treatment must be ingested in a potent, bioavailable form; the bacteria must be capable of colonizing the gastrointestinal tract and must be ingested in high enough amounts to have a therapeutic effect. This means, that to see results (based on clinical trials), you need to ingest a minimum of 7 – 10 billion c.f.u. of each species, per day. This works out to 1 teaspoon, 3 times a day of the Natren powdered probiotics: Megadophilus, Bifido Factor and Digesta-Lac. Or, 1 Healthy Trinity capsule, two times per day.

However, if your Crohn’s disease is in a very active state, or you are highly sensitive to probiotics, then you must start out with small amounts and very gradually build up. In these cases, it is often best to start with an infant species of bacteria called B. infantis and then gradually work your way up to the adult species of L. acidophilus, B. bifidus and L. Bulgaricus. B. infantis is available from Natren (called Life Start) in either cow or goat’s milk based formulas.

Note: If you are having more than 3 bowel movements per day, then you must not take anything in capsule form (probiotics or supplements) as the transit time through the gut is too fast to be properly absorbed and utilized.

Once you can tolerate therapeutic levels of probiotics (and many can right away) then the best results are seen from probiotic layering. This means you take both the powders and the capsules to maximize the beneficial effects of each and then you also perform Jini’s Probiotic Retention Enema. Probiotic layering can be done in a number of ways, but what most people usually do is to take 1 teaspoon of each powdered species, two times per day and 1 Healthy Trinity capsule, once per day.

Healing Crohn’s Inflammation & Ulceration

Whilst the protocols already outlined above greatly contribute to the healing of intestinal inflammation and ulceration, targeted herbal supplementation is also highly beneficial and produces more rapid healing.

Here are the nutritional supplements that pretty much everyone with Crohn’s disease needs to take due to increased loss through diarrhea and/or lack of absorption of nutrients:

Full spectrum multi-vitamin and multi-mineral – yes, it would be ideal to ingest these in whole-food form, however many people with IBD cannot tolerate whole food vitamins. Angstrom-sized, or nanoparticle minerals are very easily tolerated and highly absorbable, but are also a bit more expensive. So whilst the regular mineral supplements are not ideal, they do still produce beneficial results and are certainly better than nothing. In fact, due to the alkalizing effect of minerals (since people with Crohn’s have a hyper-acidic system), I strongly recommend that Crohn’s sufferers take both the Bone Support nanoparticle minerals and the Trace Minerals – these will produce the most rapid healing.

Most people with Crohn’s disease also suffer from anemia. But then iron supplements are irritating to the gut and can trigger intestinal bleeding. The solution again, is to take your iron in nanoparticle, or angstrom-sized form. This means that the iron is instantly absorbed into the bloodstream and does not require digestion. Therefore, it also does not irritate the GI tract.

Vitamin C in mineral ascorbate form – needed for immune system but also for blood clotting.

Each of these supplements is vital for healing various facets of the Crohn’s pathology and they also work synergistically to accelerate healing.

Note: If you are having more than 3 bowel movements per day, then you must not take anything in capsule form, as the transit time through the gut is too fast to be properly absorbed and utilized. In that case, you need to open capsules and dissolve the contents into an Absorb Plus shake, or diluted apple juice, or chew them.

Emotional Contributors

Over 60% of your body’s neurotransmitters are not in your brain, but in your gut! (see Michael Gershon’s book The Second Brain for lots more about this). There is now an entire field dedicated to this emerging knowledge about the interrelation of the mind, emotions and the digestive system called Neurogastroenterology. This is not airy-fairy, woo-woo stuff, this is hard science. And if you don’t heal the psychological and emotional components of your dis-ease, then you will never have long-term health. It’s really that simple.

The most effective mind/body therapies are EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques), also called MTT (Meridian Tapping Techniques) and hypnotherapy. You need to work with a skilled therapist, at least initially, to really see good results. And it’s best if you can use someone (like Annabel Fisher) who is experienced with chronic illness; which is more complex and has many more layers than regular illness.

Balance Your Hormones

If you have been ill for longer than eight months, or if you have taken any kind of steroid or immune suppressant drug, then it is highly likely your adrenal gland and thyroid glands (at least) are not functioning properly.

Ideally, you should see a doctor who specializes in hormone balancing and have your endocrine system tested properly. You should then follow a natural hormone supplement program tailored to your specific needs. However, since we have seen that many people either cannot afford to do this, or just can’t seem to allocate the time/energy to do it, I am going to give you a shortcut that is likely to help in the majority of cases.

Endocrine specialist, Jonathan V. Wright MD, has developed a holistic endocrine supplement called Thyroplex. He reasons that you should never just treat one gland in isolation – since they are all linked like dominoes. Therefore, you need to support the entire endocrine system in a return to balance. I agree with Dr. Wright and many of my clients with Crohn’s disease see very good results from taking Thyroplex (there is one for males and one for females). Women with Crohn’s usually also benefit from taking natural progesterone cream (a dime-sized amount rubbed into the soles of the feet 1x/day).

But again, it is definitely recommended that you see a doctor who specializes in hormones and have your individual situation assessed properly.

And there you have it! If you implement each of the seven steps outlined above (simultaneously if possible) you will have the fastest, most thorough Crohn’s alternative treatment plan. Of course, you will need to use various additional supplements as needed – FissureHeal if you have anal/rectal fissures, or HemorrHeal if your bleeding is from internal or external hemorrhoids, syringed wild oregano oil for fistulas, L-glutamine, bentonite clay or psyllium seed for diarrhea, etc.

But the basic protocol for rapid healing of Crohn’s disease can be summed up in these seven targeted steps:

Rest the bowel

Eradicate pathogens

Repopulate with good bacteria

Heal inflammation and ulceration

Resolve nutrient deficiencies

Heal emotional contributors

Balance the endocrine system

The key is to do all seven thoroughly – preferably simultaneously – without skipping over any of them.

____________________________________________________

Jini Patel Thompson’s books on natural healing for digestive diseases have sold in over 40 different countries. Her health articles have been published in journals and magazines in the U.S., Australia and U.K. www.ListenToYourGut.com

Note: If you suffer from constipation, then I highly recommend you get my new book, Listen To Your Colon: The Complete Natural Healing Guide For Constipation. Whilst I do address constipation briefly in Listen To Your Gut, this is a very complex disorder with a lot of different facets. Therefore, I wrote Listen To Your Colon to be able to address it properly; providing both short-term relief and long-term resolution of constipation.

Hi Jini, I’m trying to find any information you may have already put out there about internal (gut) abscesses from surgery complications. I’m about to do your internal (and external) stricture protocol, but am concerned (should I be is my question) about using DMSO with an internal abscess. I’m pretty sure it’s small (it was originally 9cm, but had a stent/drain put in, which is now out as it had become small enough to safely remove) a few weeks ago, but don’t wish to risk any chance of spreading E-Coli (that was the infection) throughout my system via DMSO. Would you mind pointing me in the right direction? Also, is it safe to put the DMSO stricture protocol on or near a recent (8 weeks out on Wednesday) 7 inch abdominal incision (emergency hysto due to septic E-Coli infection with 9cm E-coli abscess a week after surgery followed by bowel obstruction a week after that, thus why the stricture protocol – the bowel obstruction has opened if not all the way, most of the way). I really wish to do the stricture protocol with DMSO to get rid of or avoid adhesions (I downloaded the e-book on it, but couldn’t find anything on internal abscesses). Again, if you can point me to the right blog or article or comments you’ve already posted, I’d appreciate it! I appreciate you!

Most of Jini’s abscess protocols are focused on anal abscesses. In Jini’s Natural Treatments for Intestinal Strictures eBook, she talks about internal abscesses as a possible byproduct of traditional medical treatments for intestinal strictures. Regarding your concern about the E.Coli infection, the short answer is that it shouldn’t be an issue as per Jini’s blog post below:

I went to my favorite local health food store the other day. I was speaking to someone who is a “parasitologist.” She puts people on regimens for eradicating parasites. Since I already follow the LTYG program, I do not need her advice for that, bit here is the issue…

She has something called a magnazap, and she does consults on Sundays. She says that she has cured people with hepatitis C and Lyme disease, etc. Would periodic treatments with this magnazap help? Has anyone written in here and reported their experiences/results?

We don’t have any experience with that particular product nor have we seen any credible evidence that the treatment in question would have any positive effect whatsoever. However, if you decide to try it then we’d love to hear how it works out for you.

Dr. James Overman wrote the book, Overcoming Parasites Naturally. In a nutshell, he believes that all health problems are caused by parasites. The specific problems are treated with his formulation of herbs, and then the practitioner “zaps” the client with the magnazap. Different frequencies are used for different problems.

They do not zap the colon since that would destroy the healthy gut flora.

Thanks for sharing that information. We would certainly be interested in hearing about your results if you decide go through that particular treatment. As it stands, we’ve yet to see any credible scientific research supporting such a treatment so it isn’t something that we would recommend at this time.

Affiliate Disclosure

Some of the services recommended on this website provide commission to ListenToYourGut.com. All recommendations are based foremost upon an honest belief that the product, service, or site will benefit my site visitors in some way. Read the full Compensation Disclosure for more details.